Hello from Edinburgh! - An update from Donna

Greetings All!

 Here I am, in cold wet Scotland, my new home. As many of you know, my husband is a recently ordained priest of The Christian Community, the Movement for Religious Renewal inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner. His first assignment was for 6 months in a large church in Stroud, England. Now we are in our permanent (as permanent as these things ever are) home in Scotland.

 These last 6 plus months have been a time of renewal, readjustment and reflection for me. Not only did I leave Wisconsin where I had lived quite content for the last 12-odd years, but I have now returned to the UK, where I had met my husband many years ago, where we had lived for many years and where our sons were born. I have also faced the reality of being a “empty nester”, as our sons, now 21 and 19 have left home, one to live in the UK, the other to live in the US.

Other changes for me during this time were my 50^th birthday and big questions about the next phase of my life. Though my husband is the ordained one, I am also deeply involved with our church and have many thoughts about what direction that will lead me in. I have considered returning to teaching – maybe in a Waldorf school or perhaps in the public sector. Or maybe I could be a youth worker again – which was where I originally started and where, I think, I am able to be so flexible in my approach to working with children. When one is a youth worker, one never knows what the day will bring. I have worked on several city farms in this capacity and one would never know how many children would turn up, what their ages would be and what their needs would be. Factor in working outdoors, with all the possibilities that the weather, loose animals, the arrival of the blacksmith, a fence needing mending and so on might bring…..very exciting work!

So I could do that….and there is a city farm not far from where I live….and there is a Waldorf school where I could perhaps teach. Perhaps I could set up a parent/toddler group like the one I ran almost 20 years ago in Sheffield, England. Or run parent education workshops. I could focus on homeschoolers – the movement is pretty small here in the UK but it exists. Or what about at-risk teens? I worked with delinquent girls in a group home (last stop before jail) in Wisconsin. That was amazing work and there’s always a need there…

So many possibilities. Oh – and what about Christopherus? Ah yes, my dear Christopherus. Well, these last months I have not written a word for Christopherus – not for the website, not a jot for a new or revised book. I have been on sabbatical, having a bit of a rest. As Christopherus Homeschool Resources is 10 years old this spring, I felt that this was a well-deserved rest. Ten years! Can you believe it? Wow. And I know that some of you out there, some of you dear people are “old timers” from those days, perhaps old members of WE-HS and then the former Christopherus yahoo group. Many of you have had children who have grown up with Christopherus. And what a privilege for me it has been to create materials for your use, to aid you on your homeschool journey.

But things do change. I no longer homeschool. And I haven’t done much teaching in the last couple of years (although I will have two 10^th graders here from Wisconsin this spring who I will be teaching “The Geography, History and Literature of Scotland” – stay tuned for those adventures which I will share with you!)

Back to Christopherus.  Aside from the fact that I have been invisible and incommunicado these past months, none of you will most likely have noticed that anything has changed here (and I say “here” rather loosely!).  This is due to the formidable skills of Leigh Anders, Leigh-in-the-office, as she is known (well, to some of us…). Leigh has ensured that everything has run smoothly, that customers get the help they need, that books are sold, the website runs smoothly, bills are paid…..and so on and so forth.

Leigh will continue to run Christopherus Central, from our home base in Viroqua, as always. And I will, slowly, slowly, get back into things. I am planning on updating a number of publications and writing a few new ones. There will be more from me in the monthly newsletter, The Homeschool Journey. And we’ll see what else happens!

So for now, I wish you all the best and hope that your Fall term has begun well and that Christopherus, as always, can continue to provide help and support for your homeschooling and parenting needs!

Blessings on your homeschool journey,

Donna

Comments

[Barbara Benson]

Thanks so much for sharing the Scotland adventure with us! I wish you much success in your next steps and look forward to another update. I am doing my best to keep my consulting end up for the Christopherus family.
Love,
Barbara

[Catherine Forest]

Wow! So many possibilities, Donna! I am so excited for you and cannot wait to hear more about the next step!

Love,
Catherine

[Michelle M.]

Hi, Donna! I spent my junior year abroad in college in Edinburgh at 17 Drummond Place in Newtown...now a private residence and very fancy. It was just a hospital green interior student flat when I lived there, but there was still an early milk float pulled by a horse clattering on the cobblestones in the morning. I wish I had been able to find the dairy and order milk from it as it seems the horse-drawn milk floats are all gone now. Check out the Maisie books for kids if you haven't seen them...very fun for the wee ones. My husband was at school in Edinburgh at the same time I was but I did not meet him until 10 years later in Vermont when he came to work with a locally famous drystone waller. It turns out we both used to eat lunch in St. George's square! I would be very interested to have you share any details from the Scotland study you will be doing with your 10th graders...7 years from now it could be very inspiring! I wish you all the best!

Michelle

[mummylisa]

Great to hear what you are up to Donna!
It seems ages ago since the forum.
Good to see your name up their Catherine Forest, I miss taking a nosy at your blog!
I've been thinking about you recently (bit hard not to when you're homeschooling with Christopherus resources)and wondering what Donna would say about Sunday school teaching. My eldest is now 8 and we are tending to stay away from Sunday school because I think too much about when and how to present (Bible) stories to children and I feel uncomfortable with the way it seems to be done in our local churches. Maybe a topic for a future article ...

[Carla Melton]

Lovely to hear about your adventures, Donna. I feel like I'm just getting going here in New Zealand with my daughter turning 7 last week, my oldest 8 and my youngest about to turn 5. We're about to begin a new year after our Christmas Summer, and the Steiner schools have all had their annual fairs. I'm looking forward to a long peruse of your curriculum material over the summer break. Planning is such an exciting part of homeschool for me. Meanwhile, I'm heading out to the garden. Wishing you a Merry Christmas,
Carla

[Michelle Van Doren]

What a wonderful turning point you are at in life Donna. Exciting to have so many possibilities, but also you must be feeling a need to decide on a direction for yourself?

I have been enjoying Christopherus for my oldest two for almost three years now and looking forward to continuing the journey for many more years with the youngest two.

Thank you for all the work you have put into creating your beautiful curriculum. It has touched our lives in so many ways and brought Waldorf and Rudolph Steiner to us in a realistic and practical way for our family.

[Madrona]

Donna! Wonderful!!!
I guess I am one of the old timers;)
My boys have grown with your work as have I.
I am happy to hear of all the fruition and new beginnings for you.
Rest sounds good. You have given so very much.

Blessings!
Madrona

[Kathryn Silvestre]

Hi Donna!

I am one of those original folks you mentioned above from 10 years ago. Although we never homeschooled (and daughter is now in 6th grade in her Waldorf school) I've always kept up with Christopherus through your newsletters. So I just wanted to write now to say "Hello!" and to send our warmest wishes for this new chapter of your life!

Warmly ever,

Kathryn Silvestre

[Heidi Moore]

Hi, what materials would you recommend for my preschool for 3-7 year olds and how would that change as they entered kindergarten if I were to homeschool them? My children that is. Can you comment on how your children have liked or disliked being homeschooled. What are they gaps that they miss?

[Rachel Hyde]

The WE HS list was a great resource for me when I first began out Waldorf homeschooling adventure, and I was able to attend a conference you gave in Fairfax, VA once. I am now using many of the same Christopherus materials with the sixth child in our homeschool, and can't believe that the first to go through them, our oldest, is 15 and in tenth grade! He will be very excited to hear you are in Scotland, as he has been passionate about Scottish/Gaelic culture and history for the past several years (our family heritage is Scotch, Irish and English) with no signs of the interest waning. He hopes to have a chance to study there at some point once he finishes high school. We will be eager to learn more about your spring visitors and their Scottish studies.

[Genie]

Ah, winter in Scotland... I have an MA Hons in Russian from St. Andrews and have very fond memories of my (few) visits to Auld Reekie.

I look forward to more details about the 10th grade Scottish block, will you be sharing it through Christopherus?

Peace,
Genie
(in Viroqua)

[Donna]

Due to a number of reasons - including dental work that put me in bed for two weeks - I didn't read all these lovely comments until now. Wow - it makes me feel like you all are not so far away (even you Carla!). I love to hear from new folks - and from the old timers like you, Madrona! It is so wonderful for me to hear about how your children are growing up. As I said, it's our tenth anniversary this coming year....I wonder if there is some way we could highlight how so many of you have spent years with us, as part of the "Christopherus family" (ok - that sounds really hokey but there is, undeniably, more of a connection than the mere buying of books...)

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Anyway, great to read of these Scottish connections - the girls who are coming to study are so excited! They have grown up in tiny little rural Viroqua WI and the idea of 1) getting out of Wisconsin and the Midwest 2) living in a city for 6 weeks 3) being in a foreign country where they might not be able to understand what people say and 4) actually seeing buildings more than 200 years old - and castles, real castles!! is almost too much for them. Last time I was there in the Fall and we talked about the visit, they couldn't stop squealing! Anyway, more to come...

Thank you all for staying in touch!

[Gertrude]

Fantastic journey Donna ! Happy 10 years ! Just a quick question ;) With Donna on Sabbatical, was wondering how new comers with this curriculum fared. It seems to me the material could stand on its own pretty well with out much consulting or access to a computer.I got a curriculum for my pre schooler and 1st grade from another source and loved it but did not possibly seem to be the right fit for our family. Most of the resources were accessible from the web page and given my spotty web connection lesson planning was like a game of freeze tag. I have been combing through the Christopherus website and have really enjoyed the audio and articles and feel quite at home here and am pretty sure I will get our next curriculums here but don't want to run into the pit falls I did this year. Would love to hear 1st hand accounts of others experience here. Sorry if this is not the appropriate place to post this .